Police To Deploy 15, 000 Personnel To Monitor A ‘Ibom Council Poll
The Police Command in Akwa
Ibom said on Wednesday that it would deploy 15, 000 personnel to monitor the
Saturday local government council election in the state.
The Police Public
Relations Officer in the state, DSP Bala Elkana, disclosed this in Uyo while
briefing newsmen on the command’s preparedness for the Dec. 1 poll.
Elkana said that the
command had mapped out strategies to ensure a free, fair and violence-free
exercise.
He explained that at least
two policemen would be in charge of each polling unit to ensure a hitch-free
election process.
He said that conventional
policemen without arms would be at the inner circle of the polling units while
the armed ones would be at the outer circle to respond to distress calls.
“We are deploying 15, 000
policemen for the Saturday election; every polling unit will have a minimum of
two police personnel.
“Depending on the total
number of registered voters, some polling units will have larger numbers of
police personnel,” Elkana said.
The command’s spokesman
said special attention would be given to conflict-prone areas such Etim Ekpo
and Ukanafun Local Government Areas which had experienced serial killings in
recent times.
According to him, there
will be heavy presence of security personnel in the two local government areas
and other security flash points so as to nib violence in the bud.
He said police helicopters
would be deployed for aerial surveillance, adding that marine police, in
collaboration with the Nigeria Navy, would take care of the coastal areas.
Elkana warned politicians,
especially political officeholders, not to go to the polling units with their
armed details during the exercise.
He stressed that all
politicians must drop their armed details at a very far distance to the polling
units before entering the voting arena.
He also warned policemen
attached to this group of people to behave professionally, during and after the
election, stressing that any officer found wanting would be trialed and
dismissed accordingly.
He said, “The police will
not tolerate any armed detail violating this order. They are policemen and they
should know that professionally, they cannot follow their principals to the
polling units with arms.”
The police public
relations officer also advised parents to monitor their children and wards,
especially those ones that may likely be used by politicians as thugs.
According to him, the law
enforcement agents were fully prepared to handle all political thugs during and
after the elections.
“Anyone, who thinks he has
firearms and wants to come out as political thugs should get the warning clear.
“The police had ordered
that anyone coming to the poling units with arms should be shot at sight. If
you are armed, you are no longer a civilian,” he warned.
He assured the residents
that the police had also prepared for post-election activities, adding that
adequate strategies had been put in place, to forestall any post-elections
violence as was experienced in 2011.
It was gathered that the
Akwa Ibom residents will go to poll to elect 31 local government chairmen and
329 councilors.
Source: The Sensor
Newspaper
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